


Starving Artists Inc.

by vodkaalec



Category: Queer as Folk (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-11
Updated: 2016-02-11
Packaged: 2018-05-19 17:06:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5974957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vodkaalec/pseuds/vodkaalec
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One drunken night, Daphne and Justin decide to start a band and don't quite realise how much it will change their lives</p>
            </blockquote>





	Starving Artists Inc.

**Author's Note:**

> So this idea has been rattling around in my head for a while now and, since I'm currently rewatching QAF for the millionth time, I decided to get my ass in gear and write this. I hope you enjoy!

_It was late when Justin arrived home after a long day of classes and deadlines for assignments. There was music playing gently from the lounge and he could hear Daphne singing along as he wandered further into their shared apartment._

_She was stretched out along the length of the couch, one hand holding the book she was currently reading and the other wrapped around an opened beer bottle._

_“Having fun?” Justin asked and Daphne startled slightly, turning her head to him._

_“Hey! I didn't hear you come in” she said, resting her book on her lap and smiling up at her best friend._

_“Clearly” Justin replied with a teasing smile._

_Daphne just rolled her eyes before holding up her beer bottle._

_“There's more in the fridge if you want one” she told him as she turned back to her book._

_Oh, he definitely wanted one. After the day he’d had, a beer sounded like the perfect way to unwind. He made a quick pit stop to his room to put down his bag and coat and then made a bee-line for the kitchen._

_It wasn't too long before one beer turned into several._

_"You know what we should do?" Daphne said, hiccuping halfway through her sentence and brandishing her nearly empty beer bottle in the air._

_"What?" Justin replied, taking a sip of his own beer and grimacing at the taste._

_Daphne attempted hauling herself up from her slouched position on the couch. She finally managed it and then pointed her beer bottle at Justin, who was sitting in the armchair._

_"We should just like start a band" she said._

_A sober Justin would have thought that that was the dumbest_ _idea that he'd ever heard. However, Justin wasn't sober but instead quite drunk and drunk Justin thought that it was the greatest idea that he'd ever heard._

_"Yes" he replied, pointing back at Daphne._

_Daphne giggled, another hiccup escaping her._

_"Okay, okay" she said, attempting to calm herself down._

_She took a large swig of her beer to finish it off, smacking her lips together once she was done, and setting the bottle down on the floor._

_"Who should be in it?" She asked, settling back against the couch cushions and hugging her knees to her chest._

_Justin bought the lip of his bottle up to rest against his bottom lip and thought. Even though Daphne works in a record store, they didn't actually know that many musically inclined people which made things a little difficult._

_"You and me" he suggested, his voice echoing slightly because of the bottle._

_"Obviously" Daphne muttered, though she sound distracted. Probably thinking._

_As she thought, Justin downed the rest of his beer and enjoyed the warm feeling that spread further through his body as he closed his eyes._

_"Glen!" Daphne suddenly exclaimed and Justin's eyes snapped open to look at her._

_"Huh?" Was his only reply, which he decided to blame on the fact that his head was currently very fuzzy with alcohol._

_"Glen could totally be in the band" Daphne elaborated, an excited gleam in her eyes._

_Glen Reeves was Daphne's boyfriend and also a pretty great drummer. He and Daphne had started dating during their senior year of high school after striking up an email correspondence in English class. Justin hadn't known anything about it for a whole month before Daphne finally told him. He'd been kind of pissed at her for not telling him but he'd gotten over it pretty quick and moved on to being happy for her. She was his best friend after all._

_"Sure" Justin agreed, "We'll need a drummer"_

_"You could play guitar" Justin suggested, nodding his head in the general direction of where Daphne's rarely played guitar rested._

_Daphne shrugged._

_"I guess" she conceded, not looking overly sold on the idea but they didn't know anyone else who could play guitar so she didn't oppose it._

_"You could sing" Daphne proposed._

_Justin screwed his face up at the thought which made Daphne snort with laughter._

_“Come on! You're the only person I know who can actually sing” she insisted._

_Justin let out a heavy sigh. He knew that he could sing but he wasn't sure if he was good enough to sing for their potential band. He must have taken too long to answer because slowly Daphne's face transformed into that look she gets when she wins an argument. Or when she’s pretty sure she's won one._

_“You can't think of a reason not to, can you?” She asked, sounding like she already knew the answer._

_Justin didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of being right but this time she was so he quietly grumbled, “Fine, I'll do it.”_

_Daphne stood up from the couch then, swaying slightly on the spot, before staggering over to Justin and kissing him on the top of his head._

_"Want another beer?" She asked when she'd pulled away._

_"Yes please"_

* * *

 

Justin doesn't remember much after that point.

He wakes up the next morning with a bitch of a hangover and the vaguest recollection of the previous night’s events. He has a crick in his neck which he guesses is because he fell asleep in the armchair at a weird angle. He squints his eyes at the sunlight streaming in through the living room window and groans at the pounding in his head.

Daphne is passed out on the couch, deep in sleep, and so Justin wrenches himself up and drags himself over to her. There's an old blanket that they've draped over the back of the couch and he gently pulls it down and over her. She shifts a little in her sleep but doesn't wake up.

Justin severely regrets not drinking any water last night as he slowly makes his way to the kitchen. His head is pounding and his mouth is dry and tastes disgusting. He pours himself a glass as soon as he reaches the sink, downing the whole thing in one go before pouring a glass for Daphne.

He’s not entirely sure if he can stomach food at this point but he puts a few pieces of toast in the toaster anyway because there's no harm in trying. If he can't then maybe Daphne will be able to.

It isn't long before Daphne’s awake, wandering into the kitchen just as Justin’s taking the toast out of the toaster. She looks about as bad as Justin feels and he throws her a sympathetic look.

“How are you feeling?” He asks her.

“Shush” she replies, rubbing her temples, “my head can't handle loud noises right now”

Justin doesn't think that he was speaking that loudly but he doesn't comment. Instead he points to the glass of water by the sink.

“For you”

“You're a lifesaver” Daphne tells him, shuffling over to the sink and taking a large gulp from her glass.

“I’m never drinking again” she announces once she's set her glass down.

Justin lets out a disbelieving huff. Daphne says this every single time she gets a particularly bad hangover but it's never true.

“I mean it”

She also says that.

Justin doesn't bother dignifying that with any kind of a response. Instead he grabs two plates and divides up the toast between himself and Daphne before handing her a plate. Daphne takes it, staring down at the pieces of plain toast distrustingly. They quietly nibble at their breakfast, not daring to try and take large bites. After a while, Daphne puts her plate down and takes a sip of her water. She still doesn't look great but there's a little more colour in her cheeks.

“So” she begins, setting her glass down beside her plate and fixing Justin with a determined look.

“So?” Justin replies, taking another bite of toast and waiting until he's swallowed to ask, “what?”

“What we talked about last night” Daphne pushes, elaborating when Justin just stares at her blankly, “Starting a band?”

Justin briefly thinks that Daphne’s just kidding around, reminding him of their drunken idea because she thinks it's funny, but he knows Daphne and he knows that look that she has on her face. That look means that, despite now being sober, she still believes it to be a great idea.

“Daph, I love you, but there's no way we're actually going to start a band” he says, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of it.

His words don't deter Daphne's enthusiasm however. Instead she just gets more determined. Justin's not surprised. She's incredibly stubborn when she wants to be. It infuriates him but is also one of the many reasons why he loves her.

“Come on! What've we got to lose?”

Nothing. They've got nothing to lose by starting a band and Justin knows that Daphne is well aware of this fact which is why she asked that. Because she knew he'd have no comeback. Still, he doesn't think that that's enough of a reason to do it.

“Tell you what” Daphne says before Justin can voice any of this, “why don't we ask Glen what he thinks and if he thinks that it's a bad idea then we won't do it?”

“Okay” Justin readily agrees.

Glen is a sensible guy and Justin's pretty sure that he’ll put an end to this idea once and for all.

The rest of the day passes by uneventfully, both Justin and Daphne still too hungover to really do anything other than just hang out in the apartment. In the afternoon, after they’ve both taken mid-morning naps, Daphne re-commandeers the living room couch, sprawling out across it and staring at the ceiling.

Justin lights up a cigarette and joins in staring at the ceiling, letting his mind wander as he smokes. There's a couple of beats of silence before,

“Kevin Chase”

Justin takes his eyes off the ceiling and smirks at Daphne.

“Daphne Chanders, we are college students now. We can't be playing these childish high school games” Justin replies, with an air of fake pompousness.

“Shut up” Daphne giggles, “Just answer the question”

Justin lets out a heavy sigh and takes a moment to think.

“Hot”

Daphne makes a vague noise of agreement, looking deep in thought.

“Greg Matthews?” Justin asks, causing Daphne to let out an undignified snort.

“No way” she replies, through a bout of laughter.

“What are you talking about?” Justin says, though now he's laughing too.

“He's got acne” Daphne answers, scrunching up her nose.

“He did in high school. It might be gone by now” Justin counters.

Daphne doesn't look very convinced and shakes her head.

It feels like they're back in high school when they used to sit at the edge of the school pool and comment on who was hot or not. Justin doesn't know why Daphne’s bringing up memories of high school. It's not as if high school was a particularly good time for either of them. Justin, after coming out, spent most of his senior year being bullied and Daphne often got caught in the middle trying to defend Justin. They didn't have many other close friends apart from each other and then Glen when he and Daphne started dating.

Justin doesn't realise that he’d just mentally checked out until Daphne speaks and draws him back into the present.

“I can't think of anyone else” she says with a defeated sigh.

“Probably for the best” Justin replies and he means it. The further they get into that game, the more likely they are to dredge up painful memories that Justin doesn't think either of them particularly want to think about right now.

Daphne makes a noise of agreement as she heaves herself off the couch and over to their home phone. Justin’s pretty sure she’s calling Glen and is proven right when she quietly says “hi babe” down the phone.

When Glen comes over that night, Justin’s all but forgotten about Daphne’s plan to ask him about their potential band. Daphne doesn't bring it up straight away either. Instead she chooses to cuddle up with Glen and bemoan the fact that she's hung over which, really, is her own fault. She knows her limits or at least she should by now. Glen is a smart guy though and so he knows all this but still just nods his head and lets Daphne get it all out.

“I know, babe” he says every once in a while which seems to placate her.

However, this false sense of security that Justin’s lulled himself into doesn't last long. He thinks that he really should’ve clued in quicker but he's willing to blame that on the hangover.

“Do you remember September?” Daphne asks, sounding like she's trying to come across as casual but there's something forced about it.

it's not entirely clear who she's addressing so it takes a few moments before either Glenn or Justin answer.

“Yes?” Justin replies, tentatively.

He does remember September. He wasn't that close to her in high school; she was much more Daphne’s friend. She was nice though and she clearly hadn't cared that Justin was gay because otherwise Daphne wouldn't have spent so much time with her.

There's a glint in Daphne's eye at Justin’s answer and it makes Justin nervous.

“Why?” He asks.

“Oh, nothing” Daphne replies but it's clearly not true, “Just that I seem to recall that she was a pretty good bass guitarist.”

Justin freezes in horror, knowing exactly where this going.

“Why does that matter?” Glen asks, blissfully unaware of the internal panic going on inside Justin.

Justin doesn't recover quick enough to interrupt Daphne when she explains so he holds on to the hope that Glen will think that it's a stupid idea and then Daphne will let it go.

“Justin and I were thinking of starting of a band” Daphne tells Glen, “and we wanted your opinion.”

Glen looks surprised, looking between Justin and Daphne with quirked eyebrows. For a full minute he doesn't say a word and Justin takes it as a good sign.

He should've known better.

“That sounds awesome” Glen finally says.

Glen’s a nice guy and Justin thinks he's great but, at this current moment, Justin hates him with every fibre of his being. He knows it's irrational but he feels a certain sense of betrayal. He'd been counting on Glen and he’d let him down.

Daphne on the other hand is overjoyed, letting out a squeal of delight as she throws her arms around her boyfriend’s neck. Glen happily accepts the kiss that Daphne gives him but he looks a little startled, probably not realising what a big deal this is to Daphne.

When she pulls away from Glen, she turns to Justin, brown eyes wide and excited as she grins at him.

“Justin” she says and Justin resigns himself to the fact that this is actually happening.

“We're going to start a band.”  


**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how regular updates will be because the writing mood strikes me at the weirdest times but I hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading!


End file.
